There’s a bit of discussion going around concerning the ontological status of Adam and Eve — is the story literally true, useful metaphor, not really true but based somehow in reality, or what? For me, it would be hard to think of a less interesting question. But I do have a serious issue with the A&E story, which I rarely see discussed: it’s a terrible lesson on which to found a system of belief.
The story is told in Genesis, chapter two and chapter three. God sets up Adam in the Garden of Eden, and soon takes one of his ribs and makes Eve. For the most part the Garden is a pleasant place, and there doesn’t seem to have been any duties more onerous than coming up with names for the different animals. But for reasons that are not explained, God placed in the Garden something called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and commanded that Adam and Eve not eat from it. (Translational difficulties being what they are, there is a school of thought that argues that “good and evil” should be understood as simply meaning “all things, both good and evil.”) Eventually, of course, they take a bite, with a little urging from a crafty serpent. God gets angry, curses them, and casts them out of the Garden forever — the Fall of Man, as Christians would have it.
The choice given to Adam and Eve was a simple one: (1) obey, or (2) attain knowledge, in particular of good and evil. If those are my two choices, I’m choosing “knowledge” every day. Count me on Team Eve on this one. As far as I’m concerned, this wasn’t the Original Sin, it was the Original Heroic Act.
I want to see a religion founded on exhortations to disobey authority and seek the truth at any cost.
Mormons have a lot to say about this particular topic. Just thought I’d weigh in.
http://lds.org/ensign/1990/01/the-fall-of-man-and-his-redemption
sometimes atheists are really ennervating, and this is a good example. yeah, of course eating the apple is almost obvious – heck, this is the definition of what it means to be human. told as a metaphor, see?
Nietsche said that the cow is happily grazing because it doesn’t know stuff. would it know that it is genetically modified to give maximum milk and for generations enslaved by us humans (who have no quibbs killing it in the millions for some fear of a strange disease), it wouln’t be quite as happy in its own eden’s garden – now, would it?
so this Adam and Eve story is just an allegory that our knowledge makes us human.
@Sean
suggested reading for the redemption of eve: http://www.mormonmonastery.org/PDF/TheRedemptionofEve.pdf
incredible work, really.
The choice given Adam and Eve was not imposed upon them. God, according to Genesis, offered them a choice – Key word: OFFERED – Which clearly attests to the Almighty’s restraint in exercising absolute power over this man and woman. He could have been dictatorial, an absolute godly Stalin or Po Pot; but some people do not see it that way because of their abstract views of an unseen Higher Intelligence; putting Him on the playing level of imperfect human beings.
Anyway, Adam and Eve had to decide if God had the right to govern them or if they desire autonomy. Simple as that. By taking the FRUIT – By the way, the fruit is not identified in the Holy Writ – from the Tree of Knowledge, their actions implicated they chose the latter: Independence. Their actions also determined that they rather take on all the responsibilities that comes with knowledge – Being like God, knowing good and bad; even being falsely accused as God is; all the negatives. And so, as history reveals, perhaps Adam and Eve should have permitted their Creator to govern them.
Throughout the ages, mankind has exercised his right to reign independently from God. Wars, violence, crime, among other disappointments. Was God holding something back from them? Yes, the pain and anguish of living imperfect as we do today. Suppose they chose not to eat the fruit that the envious serpent coaxed them to eat; would God still allowed them to exercise their freedom? Let’s see; God decreed: “From ALL the trees you may eat to satisfaction….” The only one tree God held out on was the one that caused the most pain.
Is there anything wrong with God protecting them from harm? Are we to say that the serpent really was a smart informer? Because look what eating from this forbidden fruit resulted. Now if this is a metaphoric story, well it’s a darn good one. Mankind has been steering his own ship for a long, long time. A Higher Power must intercede before mankind destroys himself.
Examine the principles of this story before writing it off as nothing but a fable.
It’s just a metaphor for the rise of our self-awareness and all the complications and neuroses that followed.
More specifically, it could just be a metaphor for the dawn of agriculture, which one could cite as the beginning of our destructive, virus-like spread across the Earth. It’s not some kind of nefariously planned mind control memo. We are only just starting to break out of our old ways of thinking, but must keep in mind the good things the ancients taught us (either explicitly or symbolically) and apply them to a just and free society.
Is Saint Augustine’s exegesis for the 2nd and 3rd chapters of Genesis correct? Do a search: First Scandal.